Where to eat in Washington DC

[SamanthaF]

I'm a Brit working in DC for a while.

I'd like suggestions on where to eat.

Specifically, I'd like places where I won't look so odd eating on my own.

Thanks.

[chefette]

what kind of food do you like Samantha?  and what neighborhood are you living/working in?

[SamanthaF]

I like french/modern European/American. No particular fondness for Indian/Spicy food.

I'm living by Faragut Sq, working at G/15

Thank you.

[Steve Klc]

Hi Samantha--in general, DC is very conservative and traditional, full of mediocre unadventurous dining.  You're in a tough neighborhood for restaurants--K/Conn/17th--very close to the White House.  It's busy, touristy, pricey and full of power lunches--all of which augurs against finding stylish, interesting cooking at a reasonable price.  Which is the kind of cooking that I like.

The obvious higher-end places nearest you are Equinox (818 Conn. Ave.) and Gerard's Place (915 15th St.) and I have had some excellent dishes and experiences at both.  Todd Gray and Gerard Pangaud are considered by media as among the best chefs in this area (Pangaud, we are constantly reminded, at one time, in a land far, far away, was a Michelin 2 star chef.)  I have also had underwhelming, simple, boring conservative food that was "mailed-in" and over-priced.  While these restaurants may be at the top of DC, according to local restaurant critics, they are not at the same creative level of comparably priced restaurants and chefs that I've found in other serious food cities like NY, Paris, SF, Chicago and Boston.

How much of this is due to the conservative clientele, home-town rooting by the food media or the chefs' themselves settling in and coasting, is an open question.

DC Coast is another restaurant near you that, inexplicably, gets alot of attention from certain NY food media types who only eat at white tablecloth fine dining establishments--and if you want huge portions of straightforward power lunch type food, this is the place for you.   I'd try Ten Penh, their newer restaurant with an Americanized "Asian" flair at 1001 Pennsylvania Ave.

If you are at all interested in modern, stylish, innovative cooking or simply excellent cooking at a fair price--you will be hard pressed to find it your neighborhood, if indeed in all of DC.

Instead, I'd recommend you travel a bit toward the MCI Center to dine, in order, at:  Jaleo (480 Seventh St) with chef Jose Andres--a good friend and colleague of mine; Cafe Atlantico (405 8th St.) with chef Christy Velie; Tosca (1112 F St.) a stylish, new, modern Italian--whatever that means--with Cesare Lanfranconi, a young chef who is now cooking under his own name, after doing the cooking for years for a local celebrity chef named Roberto Donna; and Butterfield 9 (600 14th St.)  I've included Butterfield 9 because the chef seemed earnest and his food interesting--though I have only dined there once, with Jose Andres, and Martin, the chef, cooked a special tasting menu for us.  But it might be worth a try.  There's not much to recommend in DC's faux Chinatown, which is also East of you.

Travel a bit the other way from Farragut--westward--and you'll find Kaz Sushi Bistro (1915 I Street).  Sometimes it's easier to dine solo at a sushi bar and this place is modern, innovative, welcoming and superb.

Dine early and you shouldn't have a problem dining alone at any of these places--Cafe Atlantico is on 3 floors with lots of deuces and nooks and crannies and in Jaleo you can always eat at the bar or in a deuce along the windows.  Realize, though, that both Jaleo and Cafe Atlantico fill up and get quite busy as the evening wears on.

Hope this helps and please report back--let's build a database of DC dining.

[SamanthaF]

Thanks Everso,

I was beginning to think that Old Ebbits was it!

I did go to Dominiques down at the WaterGate the other night.

I've been told that the Dupont area is good for brunch - can anyone make any suggestions?

(Edited by SamanthaF at 3:16 pm on Jan. 8, 2002)

(Edited by SamanthaF at 3:17 pm on Jan. 8, 2002)

[chefette]

Gabriel's.

[jhlurie]

It's been more than a decade since I was last in DC, but my old standby was to go to the area called Adams-Morgan (around 18th St. and Columbia Rd.).  Wall-to-wall restaurants in about a three block range--most of them ethnic--and most of them very good.  Again, I'm stretching my memory, but right in the heart of Adams-Morgan I remember that there was a highly excellent Ethiopian restaurant and also a really good Southern-American cooking place.  Neither cuisine was spicy.

I just found this link-- http://adamsmorgan.net/ --with a current neighborhood restaurant directory.  Apparently there are SIX different Ethiopian restaurants in Adams-Morgan now (that must be some kind of record outside of Ethiopia), and I'm sorry I can't tell you which of them (if any) was the one I enjoyed so much.  Look for the oldest one I guess. :)

Dupont Circle (at least back then) was always a big dissapointment, except for a single Greek restaurant right off the circle whose name escapes me, and which probably doesn't even exist anymore.

Again, I hate to be general, but I also recall that there was a really good collection of Vietnamese restaurants in Northern Virginia--the Arlington/Crystal City area in particular.  Vietnamese food, by and large, would fill your requirement for non-spicy food--although there are a few exceptions in the cuisine.

A real local may at least be prompted to remember some places based on these vague old memories, and maybe you'll pick up some new places.

[Steve Klc]

jhlurie--I guess I qualify as a real local.  I've lived here since 1979, but the scene has changed immensely in 10 years.

In fact, your advice was the exact same advice I would have given someone in 1982--Adams Morgan was THE scene, exciting dynamic and only beginning to be discovered.  The cluster of ethiopian restaurants was actually good and I was an under-qualified/in-over-my-head chef in my very first restaurant--called De Gustibus--which later morphed into the Belmont Kitchen after we went out of business.  We were way ahead of our time--we paired wines by the glass to each dish on the menu.  In 1982.  I didn't last 6 months.  I was 22.  There isn't a single Ethiopian restaurant in Adams Morgan now or in all of DC anymore that hasn't declined steadily since then.  Just so you know it's not just me:  the Washingtonian Magazine, whose restaurant critics I trust, do not put a single Ethiopian restaurant in their "100 Best Bargain Restaurant List" of June 2001.  As you may remember, local foodies once passionately debated the merits of zil-zil tibs or doro wat at the Red Sea, Zed's, Meskerem, et al.  Not anymore.  In Adams Morgan 2001 all they do is clup hop, eat shitty food late night or get frustrated trying to park and go eat elsewhere, like to Cleveland Park.

At the same time in the 80's--ALL the best Vietnamese restaurants were indeed in the Clarendon and Courthouse sections of Arlington--including many where you'd walk in and find the menus handwritten on a blackboard in Vietnamese--with no English translation.  The only Vietnamese restaurants remaining here--beside a decent bowl of pho still to be had at Pho 75--in this now highly developed, Uber-chic mix of trendy condos, bars, brewpubs and coffeehouses--are touristy, devalued, flavorless and Americanized.  (Like former Washington Post restaurant critic P. Richman's perennial and inexplicable fav, Queen Bee.)  I currently live in one of these condos. To get decent Vietnamese food we have to go over to Route 50 and Seven Corners--and even there, in the Eden Shopping Center, the food has started to decline subtly.  But at least you still see Vietnamese families dining in these restaurants--unlike in Clarendon.  Four Sisters is still the best of the bunch here.

Back in Clarendon and Courthouse--we're still eating at Mexicali Blues, Rocklands Barbecue, Rio Grande, an occasional Latin chicken or Thai place, more out of convenience than reverance or appreciation.  

And Dupont Circle now has a handful of very worthy restaurants:  Pizzeria Paradiso, Johnny's Half Shell, Obelisk, Bistrot du Coin.

[jhlurie]

I was there in the mid to late 80's, but I guess the decline hadn't really reached its full steam.  

Now that you mention it, the Ethiopian place I especially liked--I believe--was "Red Sea".

Its a shame to hear about the demise of Vietnamese cusine in D.C.  It was a highlight of living in the area.

In that time, Dupont seems like it was exactly at the point you describe Adams-Morgan now--washed up.  If its had a revival, well, I guess I'm glad to hear that.

I also have vague memories of Cleveland Park being an up-and-coming area a decade ago, and your off-hand remark seems to indicate it has up and came...

Was Mexicali Blues there ten or eleven years ago?  I seem to remember it.

Actually it cut a bit to hear your description of the entire area as "mediocre unadventurous dining", because that was not my impression at all during my time there.  I bemoaned the lack of good Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Thai restaurants in the area in those days, but great Vietnamese, Mexican, Ethiopian, etc. more than made up for it.

[Steve Klc]

Cooking has changed alot and our awareness of cuisine has changed in the time period we're talking about jhlurie--but that's not unique to DC.   One thing special about DC that I think we both agree on is that we got on the ethnic bandwagon, as a foodie community, alot earlier than other major food cities--and we've always had an abundance and diversity of ethnicities--at the low to moderate end.  P. Richman did do a good job of raising our awareness of this while she was worshipping at the all-encompassing altars of Jean Louis/Patrick O'Connell/Donna/Kinkead and the boring repetition of classic and traditional French cooking, which we had (and still have) no shortage of.  Not that she dined enough in the 'burbs--she didn't--but she did try to raise awareness of strange exotic foods.

Considering DC was this sleepy Southern second rate food town--with no real competition at the high end--with a fake rather than real Chinatown--we did seemingly have legitimate pockets of populations--like Malaysian, Ethiopian, Persian, Salvadoran, Peruvian, you name it--and inexpensive restaurants rise up to serve those populations.  Adventurous diners years ago benefited greatly and had alternatives if one didn't want to eat steak or chain restaurant crap.

You felt there was great Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian then--and I'd agree.  Now, only the Vietnamese remain at a pretty good-to-very good level--and only in certain areas.

You felt then that there were no good Italian, Japanese, Thai and Chinese restaurants--now, the good news:

there are ALOT of excellent Japanese restaurants now(Sushi-Ko, Tako Grill and Kaz Sushi Bistro) and alot of at least decent to pretty good Thai restaurants.  As far as Italian restaurants go--New York foodies and Italian cognoscenti don't seem to think our Italian restaurants are very good--for the price.  We have alot of expensive ones that get publicity, hometown rooting and media respect--the Roberto Donna/Galileo/i Ricchi/Goldoni crowd.  Obelisk has excelled and Tosca is too new to evaluate but shows tremendous promise.  And our Chinese restaurants have always been uninspiring.

Just as there is becoming a wider income gap separating upper and lower classes--I'd suggest there is also a widening, even more dramatic gap between higher end and bargain, inexpensive restaurants.  What DC has not been good at is keeping small, mid-level restaurants going--the kind owned by a chef and charging prices below the high end--that really have to be supported by a knowing, savvy clientele.  (Like New Yorkers.)  I'd sum it up by saying the low end is still fine here, the middle has virtually disappeared and the high end doesn't compare to the high end of those other, more relevant food cities.

Very few chefs and restaurateurs that are making it here--could make it in NYC.

[Steve Klc]

oh, I forgot about Mexicali Blues--no, it's new--a year or two old--on the corner of Wilson Blvd. and Garfield.

A fun place--very happening at night.  Affordable good food, I tend to like the more-Salvadoran stuff better than the Mexican/Tex-Mex stuff--and I absolutely love the sidewalk patio which is very spacious.

[SamanthaF]

Had my DC treat last night - I ate at Melrose in the Hyatt Hotel.

Food, Service and ambience all outstanding!

[Damian]

Okay, Chinatown is small, but not entierly faux.  Go to the Full Kee on H Street for good, cheap Chinese.  For faux, upscale and delicious pan-Asian go to Yanyu in Cleveland Park.  Cleveland Park also has Lavandou, Ardeo, Palena, all serving quality food.  

Steve, klc's assessment is probably right on target for the most part (although I am a hometown rooter for Galieo, Goldoni, and Kinkead's).  DC simply ain't NYC.     

Georgia Brown's downtown for upscale, sleepy southern fare (buttermilk fried chicken, deep-fried chicken livers and peach iced tea).

In Adams Morgan, Ann Cashion's Eat Place is a personal favorite.

Capitol Hill has 2Quail, La Brasserie, and the wonderful Bistro Bis.  Sit at the bar at Bis, you won't look out of place alone.

For brunch in the DuPont Area?  The Tabard Inn is a classic DC brunch hideaway...very cozy in winter and outside tables in Spring/Summer.  

Also, do not forget the two great restaurants outside of DC.  Classic French and good at it.  L'Auberge Chez Francois in Falls Church - hearty Alsatian, expensive but an excellent value (recently re-opened after a fire), not really an alone place though.  

The best of all is Patrick O'Connell's Relais & Chateau (yeah yeah, I know) Inn at Little Washington about an hour and change outside of DC in Washington, Virginia in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.  Here are your Michelin stars, and Michelin star-like prices...but what an experience!  ILW is not the place to go alone however, romance is practically on the menu. 

(Edited by Damian at 2:59 pm on Jan. 9, 2002)

(Edited by Damian at 3:10 pm on Jan. 9, 2002)

(Edited by Damian at 3:15 pm on Jan. 9, 2002)

[Steve Klc]

Hey Damian--thanks for chiming in with your recommendations about DC.  are you still local?

I may give Full Kee another try.  I ate there 4 times last year and besides the shrimp dumpling noodle soups, I've otherwise been underwhelmed, especially since I've eaten just enough in NYC and SF to know the difference.  For those not familiar with DC, our always-weak Chinatown once spread into a dangerous, decrepit downtown "wasteland" that was really scary and now is a fully-formed yuppie/buppie/boho (insert your acronym here) bastion of re-development, tourist venues, chic condos and Starbucks.  Those restaurants and restaurateurs who got in early--Jaleo, Austin Grill, Cafe Atlantico--ahead of the curve when it was risky, have reaped immense dividends as all the Mom & Pop smaller businesses have been forced out to the fringes or marginalized.

And I guess I should reiterate something from my previous posts, lest I be misunderstood--it's not solely that I think DC is not NYC.  Of course it's not.  But dining-wise I don't think DC is as relevant, knowing or interesting as it should be--or could be--especially when compared to other secondary American food cities, like Chicago, SF or Boston.

We'll get into my major problems with L'Auberge and minor problems with I@LW--undeniably romantic settings aside--and why I feel both reinforce the second class culinary status of DC when I have a little more time.  

[Damian]

Steve,

While I am a hometown Washingtonian with deep roots, I moved to NYC two months ago.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on L'Auberge CF and O'Connell's little place.  I've always found the former to be a very reliable place for special occasions, from family celebrations when I was young to more recent experiences as an adult.  

Should have mentioned Peking Gourmet Inn in Leesburg for Chinese as well, kind of a different ballgame from Chinatown Chinese.  I like Full Kee, nothing over the top, but great soup-meals and reliable Am-Chinese standard dishes.  I recently ate at the Grand Sichuan Int'l here in NYC, a place touted as having some of the best Chinese here, great spicy food.  Yeah, it's not really Chinatown anymore when Fuddruckers, Ruby Tuesday, and Legal Sea Foods move in.  (Not to mention Ireland's Fado, but I love Fado).  

A reliable middle- low end downtown is the Havana Breeze next to DC Coast on K Street.  Very authentic Cuban/Caribbean with cheap prices (and requisite plasticware).  I spent two years in San Juan and this stuff is as close as it gets in DC to the everyday food of that island.

I've never been to Ruppert's but have wanted to try that one for a while, is that still around?  I've also heard good things about the new Oceanaire.  What about New Heights and Nora? I've always enjoyed those two.

I, too, have been a big fan of Jaleo and Cafe Atlantico since they opened (especially after CA's move to the Landsburgh).  I was not aware of Grapeseed, I'll have to check that out one of these days.  How is the CIA place in Bethesda?

Anyway, enough for now, but good to talk to another food person in DC. Samantha, if your listening, hope this helps.

[Steve Klc]

Damian--from posts elsewhere, Samantha seems to be back in the UK, and I suspect none of this will ever help her.  Though we both can hope our evolving mini-DC board helps others down the road.  Peking Gourmet Inn is a good one, glad you mentioned them--were you here when they really hit the big time when a certain Republican President started going there and the NYTimes decided to write about them? Of course that was ages ago.  I've been going there about twice a year for what seems like 20 years--rather expensive, rather resting on their laurels, with a service staff that knows right off whether you're a Beltway/Military player or not and "seems" to treat you accordingly--but I've had well-prepared, safe and predictable Chinese there.

  

I completely buy into all that leek/spring onion business of theirs, too.  Nice, also, that the owner is often there--albeit shaking hands with all the retired Generals--and hey, you gotta like a restaurant still making it after all these years smack dab in the middle of a lower-income strip mall.  (Route 7 approaching Seven Corners from the East for non-locals.)

And funny you mention Havana Breeze, I have not been yet, but we do eat often at their "sister" place, the Caribbean Grilled Chicken joint on Lee Highway/George Mason intersection in Arlington.

I'm going to flesh out this second-class DC hypothesis of mine soon and I hope you chime in here to help or dissuade.

[robert brown]

Steve, I bet this thread puts to shame any other guide to DC restaurants. I notice you give little attention to Kinkaid. Last time we were in DC was in April when we were working on a project in the IM Pei building across the street. We couldn't understand what the man's reputation was built on. What is your opinion of the restaurant? (if you want to give it). Otherwise, the next time we are down there we will no doubt profit from your advice and that of the others in the thread.

[Steve Klc]

From the looks of it, my opinion is precisely the same as yours.  I am constantly bemused that Kinkead's is as highly regarded nationally as it is--recently ranked #27 in Gourmet magazine Top 50 Restaurants in the US issue.  27th best in the country?  It hasn't been in my Top 10 of DC for awhile and there are 27 better restaurants in NYC alone.

Then again, that Gourmet stunt has been fairly well dissected elsewhere, so maybe that's not the best evidence.  Or is it?

A coupla issues here regarding Kinkead, but also germane to DC's other most well known chefs, too, like Donna and Richard and O'Connell and Pangaud--how do you stay relevant and vital as you age, how do you spin that for a largely uncritical food media, as you've allowed yourself to settle into a rut surrounded by a conservative, uncritical and mostly unknowing clientele, as your life energy feels the pull of advancing years, as you ask yourself what's next, what happens to the "game"--either the cell-phone toting, jet-setting celebrity chef lifestyle that Jean Louis showed us the ticket to or simply how to keep making a buck in a tough business?  I could go on, but you get my point--these chefs specifically and DC generally are at a very interesting, fragile point right now culinarily speaking:  which way will we go?  Maintained and sustained mediocrity--which is what I think it is when compared nationally and internationally to other elite cities--or a rebirth or renaissance?

Unfortunately, the food scene here seems as intransigent as the political--neither will change anytime soon.

And thank you for the kind words.  Chefette and I would be proud to coordinate an eGullet get-together down here with you and others anytime, to meet a few chefs and "expand" our board.  Just my luck, though, that I'll probably have to be in NYC when you are here.  That's been happening to me lately.

[robert brown]

Steve, after having Kinkead touted by a few Washingtonians, at least I know I'm not a complete curmudgeon. Then I didn't even know Pangaud landed in DC. I remember walking past his place in, I think, the 4th arrondissement. Was he in NY for a while? And maybe one of these days I can get you to talk about what you think of Little Washington.

Your discussions about DC and Philly have me thinking about the global issue of what drives gastronomy, eating, chefs, and restaurants in the US, UK, and Europe. It's a monster-size matter that gets into areas of the mass media, PR, diversity and homogeniety of cuisines, etc. I think it is legitimate and valid to talk about the level or resources of a given city's dining, but rather insignificant to try to compare one city to another once you get past a place like New York which just has an overshelming number of restaurants. This is because culinary resources in such places are, I feel, driven by non-culinary factors, such as who decides to go into business where, the economic condition of the city in question, the culinary mass media, and where the entrepreneur has his roots. I am also curious to know if experienced professionals like yourself feel that the big cooking schools (CIA, Johnson & Wales) are creating this homogenity that I think exists at a certain level across the country, and if you think this is worth the price of having large trade schools such as those. I may be blowing my bankroll of future topics, but given recent postings,i.e. yours, and Adam Balic's tangentially-related one near the top of the "General" forum, it is worth starting to discuss them about now since they are in the air.

(Edited by robert brown at 4:28 pm on Jan. 12, 2002)

[Bux]

I was going to pop in with the comment that on our last trip to Washington we ate at Jaleo and I recall enjoying it. That trip was some time ago, but I was remined of it as the relative we visited then, just visited us a few weeks ago.

Robert however, has raised the stakes above that of a restaurant recommendation thread. The influence of large and influential cooking schools is an interesting question, but not without the chicken and egg consideration. How well do the schools reflect the chefs who teach there and current trends and how much do the set the style of the food for graduating students. Whatever the answers are to that, the rise in interest in chefs. restaurants and food across the country contributes both the standardization and to the importance of the major schools. My guess is that great chefs will more likely be influenced by other great chefs and they will also follow their muse. It's the middleground that will be homogenized. The effect is not unlike MacDonald's which in the end is boring, but which many claim raised the level of food reliability for travelers in uncharted territory. If I read Robert correctly there's MacDonald's, Bennigans, and the individual restaurants of the CIA grad chefs in that order of quality, but the level of expectation is almost known before you enter.

[Damian]

Steve,

To keep the DC thread alive... My wife and I were in town last weekend and went to a dinner party.  The hosts served a German schnecken from Ann Amernick's new pastry boutique next door to her Palena restaurant in Cleveland Park.  It was wonderful.  I figured you either know Amernick or are familiar with her work.  Have you been to her new place?  Any other comments on her work?  Also, if you're feeling ambitious, I'd love to hear your thoughts on L'Auberge CF as discussed above.  

It was great to be back home, I love DC.

[Steve Klc]

Damian, sorry to be delinquent.  There's just so much good stuff on other boards.  I have not eaten at Palena yet and when I do, I'll report.  Frank Ruta has a great reputation among both local chefs and local food press and I've yet to read a less than positive review.  The "backstory" of the media seems to be he's a chef's chef kind of guy, long doing the cooking for others and now getting his shot to make his public reputation.

I am very familiar with Ann Amernick and her work and perhaps for now it is best I leave commentary on her to others since we are direct competitors in certain areas.  My wife also worked with her at Michel Richard Citronelle during one of Richard's seemingly endless,  revolving door stints of pastry chefs.

I am glad to hear that at least one person found a good schnecken these days--I've had so many tired or corrupted examples of German and Austrian pastry traditions that I had almost given up hope.

And yes, the Inn and L'Auberge await.

[SamanthaF]

I'm coming back in a few of weeks time, has anybody tried Todd Gray at Equinox yet?  It's situated right behind my hotel so it would be nice if it's worth a visit.

BTW, I don't think I ever mentioned Cafe Soleil on previous DC postings, for a decent value downtown establishment, it can't be knocked really. Very unpretentious service, and some hidden gems in the menu.  

[Steve Klc]

Robert--here's the best writing on Pangaud that I've come across, by Brett Anderson, once a DC-based food writer.  I believe Brett has since moved on to New Orleans and become a restaurant critic there.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/archives/cover/2000/cover0512.html

Was it Aurora you might remember him from--circa 1985?

Here's a passage I found particularly telling--in light of this thread:

"I am a recovering alcoholic," Pangaud says. "New York was not the right place for me. So I tried to find a slower pace and a better lifestyle, and Washington is giving me that. It's not as sophisticated or as glamorous as Paris and New York. But it's a much better quality of life for a chef."

(Edited by Steve Klc at 7:47 pm on Feb. 5, 2002)

[Roger McShane]

I agree with Steve's comments about Kincaid. We had a perfectly pleasant dinner there. We have also had perfectly pleasant dinners at hundreds of other restaurants in the US, but you could never say that Kincaids was a leading seafood establishment - it's just a good seafood establishment. GW Fins in New Orleans would beat it hands down.

I was interested that someone raised a question about Rupperts. I would also like to know if it is still around as we had one of the best meals we have ever had in the United States a couple of years ago. We were very impressed with the standard of cooking and the care and attention that went into the preparation of the food.

Just a note of nostalgia - we loved the Red Sea in 1980. Some of the best Ethiopian food we have tried!